Student Question
How would Dame Van Winkle retell "Rip Van Winkle"?
Quick answer:
Dame Van Winkle would likely retell "Rip Van Winkle" from a critical perspective, focusing on Rip's irresponsibility and neglect as a husband and father rather than portraying him as a lovable layabout. She would emphasize the challenges his behavior caused her and their family, contrasting sharply with the original story's forgiving tone. Her narrative would highlight the negative impact of Rip's laziness and his failure to fulfill his familial duties.
Of course, it would be hard for Dame Van Winkle to tell any of the ending part of this story seeing as how she died while Rip was asleep. However, the parts of the story that she could tell would surely be very different. They would be much less forgiving of Rip's flaws than the actual story is.
It is unlikely that Dame Van Winkle would have referred to Rip as "an obedient, henpecked husband" or that she would have said that he was "under the discipline of shrews (or a shrew) at home." She would not have used this sort of language that implies that she was such a horrible wife that it was really understandable that Rip should spend so much time away from home.
Instead, the story would probably cast Rip not as a lovable layabout, but rather as an irresponsible person who failed in his duty...
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as a husband and father. She would sound much more critical when she talks about his laziness. She would not make it sound amusing as in the following lines:
The great error in Rip’s composition was an insuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labor. It could not be from the want of assiduity or perseverance; for he would sit on a wet rock, with a rod as long and heavy as a Tartar’s lance, and fish all day without a murmur, even though he should not be encouraged by a single nibble.
Dame Van Winkle, then, would tell the story from a much less sympathetic point of view. She would probably emphasize the problems that Rip's behavior caused for her and her worries about how his attitudes would affect their children.
In "Rip Van Winkle," how might Rip's brother retell the story?
I assume from your question that you have been asked to rewrite this excellent story from the perspective of a bystander, and in this case the brother of Rip. The place to start would be to imagine how a bystander would have looked upon the case from their perspective. Clearly, you would need to focus on Rip at the beginning and the kind of useless character he is. You would probably describe his position wryly, focusing on the humour of how he helps everybody else but never his own family, and his status as a henpecked husband as a result. Then, with his disappearance, you would obviously express concern and wonder at what had happened to Rip and the efforts to find him. Finally, in your old age, you would express your wonder and amazement at his return and the story that he tells.
I think crucially above all you would need to remember that this story is a story that is an ironic comment about history and the passing of time, and how momentous events like the American Revolutionary War and independence can occur without actually changing things beyond superficial details. Therefore Rip's account would have to bring this perspective to the story.